Monday, December 29, 2014

What Are You Doing Here?

I'm often asked around this time of year: "What are you doing here?" Many in the radio and TV biz take this week off--with little going on, no ratings period and not much to talk about. Or they have to "recover from the holidays". If you need time off to recover from one day of giving gifts to other people then you are taking it way too seriously.

Personally, I don't see why you would want to be off at this time of year. You're not going to be able to play golf, or spend a day at the park with the kids or go for a scenic drive through the country. The mall is going to be packed with high school kids off from class all week and with gift cards burning holes in their wallets. About the only thing this week has going for it is daytime college football bowl games--but even those are crappy matchups (like today's titanic clash between 6-6 Texas and 6-6 Arkansas in the Texas Bowl).

Besides, it's amazing how much work you can actually accomplish when no one is around to bother you. No one asking what you thought about Aaron Rodgers "comeback" last night, or the usual dirty play of the Lions. No one scheduling a meeting at your busiest time of the day to recap the bullet points of last week's meeting so "we are all on the same page". My usual 500 emails from every public relations firm, third party political group, community organization and seller of "male enhancement" drops precipitously this week--meaning even less time emptying out my inbox. If anything, coming to work at this time of year is the real "vacation".

Believe me, I would much rather sit in the office today and even for most of New Year's day getting stuff done--so that I don't have to sit in the office trying to get things done on those glorious June days when the sun is warm, the breeze is light, the golf courses are in perfect condition and I can sit on the back patio and grill out while wearing my shorts and flip-flops. Now that is time off well spent.